On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 9:55 AM, Matthew Miller
<mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org> wrote:
>
> The New Mission Draft
> ---------------------
>
> So, here it is:
>
> Fedora creates an innovative platform that lights up hardware,
> clouds, and containers for software developers and community
> members to build tailored solutions for their users.
>
On one hand, I do like the renewed focus on making Fedora a better
platform for people to build their own great solutions. I hope this
means that there will be increased interest in this field (as opposed
to lackluster interest for the last few years...).
However, I'm extremely concerned that Free and Open Source Software
isn't mentioned at all in the mission draft. One of the key things
that makes Fedora attractive (in my view) is its highly principled
stance on providing the best of Free Software, and while we have been
watering that down in recent years (like making it less awful to use
the proprietary nVidia driver on Fedora), we haven't actually gotten
to the point that we're distributing non-free/proprietary software.
I'd like it to stay that way. I also think that being an operating
system is still a very important aspect of Fedora, and many, many,
many people care about this aspect deeply (myself included).
It's quite troubling that the Council seems to think that it's okay to
let go of these very core aspects of us now. While it might be true
that if Fedora was created in 2017, it might not be a full Linux
distribution, that's certainly not what happened, and our community is
shaped by its experiences. Heck, I've been a contributor to Fedora for
nearly a decade, and I've been a user for longer than that. For me
(and many others like myself), the FOSS principles and the operating
system aspect of the project both matter quite heavily.
It's also worth pointing out that if people are seeing it as
uninteresting and boring, then perhaps we just need a better message
around why it's exciting to help develop a fully featured Free
operating system. The new message may even help in that, but we have
to remember that we haven't actually "won" the war for Free and Open
Source software. There are all-new battles to fight and some of the
same old battles are there too.
Please consider integrating these core aspects into a new mission draft.
--
真実はいつも一つ!/ Always, there's only one truth!